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Reply to: The Pandemic is Only Beginning: The Long COVID Disaster Posted 2 months ago

To be honest it is not just Covid, Post Viral Syndrome effects a lot of people. I had a bad case of flu back in the mid 1980s, caused my gums to recede, I am getting the last of my teeth extracted tomorrow and a full set of dentures. I caught Covid over Christmas 2022. Moderate flu like symptoms for 36 hours plus complete loss of sense of smell and taste, as I was recovering, I noticed I was also having difficulty hearing family members if I was not looking directly at them. My sense of smell and taste returned slowly, but my hearing is still at the level I will need hearing aids. At the minute I am still being evaluated by the local GP surgery. Talking to people who have not recovered their full health after Covid, some who caught it as far back as Spring 2020, I suspect you only need to catch a virus once to suffer medical complications, though the more times you catch one the more opportunity for your body to have a bad reaction.

Reply to: Smoke hoods etc Posted 2 months ago

I have a couple of the AVON smoke hoods. They are not cheap, but I got them through work as I often have to stay in, shall we say less than 5 star hotel’s. The only concern I have with the O2 system is it is only 22Lt’s. The small CD Cylinder’s we use on the Ambulance hold 460Lt’s.

Reply to: New (UK) Member saying Hi Posted June 19, 2023

Hi from up on the Borders of Scotland. Nice start on your prepping journey. With prepping I find that once you have the basics covered, most “events” can be covered with a little nudge. I am also a great believer in Software beats Hardware, or the more you know the less you need to carry.

Reply to: UK Manchester Arena Report Posted June 19, 2023

I can only comment on the medical side of event cover. It is extremely easy to say “it would only take the deleting of 35 words to give them the power they need. The hard part would be getting a system of regulation that can be implemented. I have been on the receiving end of a CQC inspection when I worked for a private ambulance company, we lost points because we did not have a green mop for mopping the kitchen area in the ambulance station. We pointed out we did not have a kitchen or even anywhere to prepare / consume food in the station. But because the inspector could not tick that box, we only received a “good” rating. Don’t get me wrong, nobody I know in the private event medical field is against regulation, but we want regulation that will actually improve the industry, not just look good on paper.

Reply to: UK Manchester Arena Report Posted May 2, 2023

Technically I am self-employed too (I tried the employment 9-5 thing, but it was too stressful for me). Most of the reputable (ish) companies are CQC registered, or at least following CQC guidelines. This means in order to insure we work to skill level and everything is in date, we get sealed bags each shift. Some companies supply kit but allow us to carry our own too. Others require us to carry our own gear. I do carry a hold all with admin stuff in it. Mostly coffee bags, but a light fleece, spare batteries etc. My plan is to add the extras to this bag and only get them out once the situation goes past the point it no long is an issue.

Reply to: UK Manchester Arena Report Posted May 1, 2023

Hi Black Club, I take it your in the UK as well? I was lucky enough to attend the CitizenAid conference / study day about 5 or 6 years ago at Edgbaston cricket ground. Well worth the trip down to it. I have not yet managed to work my way all the way through the Manchester report yet, but so far, I have identified a couple of points that I need to address. Some of these are obvious things like, more equipment to stop catastrophic blood loss and maintaining the casualty’s temperature, to less obvious things like elastic bands to fix NATMIST cards to the casualty and a roll up carry sheet for moving casualties. The major hurdle is most companies I work for are CQC registered so carrying our own kit is frowned on. Have you seen the new NHS Trauma Triage tools? NHS England » Ten Second Triage tool NHS England » NHS Major Incident Triage Tool (MITT)

UK Manchester Arena Report

Skills 7

Posted April 27, 2023

Reply to: For UK members: April 23rd 3pm (1500 local) Alert Test, What do you think??? Posted April 23, 2023

I am using an Android 10 and I received the alert spot on time. Though it would seem anyone on the 3 network or with no 4 or 5 G connection did not. I am in favour of the system, I live very close to a town that was badly flooded a few years ago, a system like this would have gone a long way to giving people a bit more notice, with the possibility of at lest getting them selves and their vehicles out the danger zone. I hope that it can be targeted at the local area, if I was to get warnings about London and I live in the Northeast, then I think I would be switching it off. The next question of course is what constitutes and “emergency”? As local radio stations are being closed will they use this for things like local school closures and blocked roads?

Reply to: Reminder – April 23rd 3pm (1500 local) Alert test by the UK government Posted April 23, 2023

It would seem the anyone on the 3 Network did not receive the Alert. There is also some talk that it only went out on the 4 & 5 G networks.

Reply to: Reminder – April 23rd 3pm (1500 local) Alert test by the UK government Posted April 21, 2023

Right in the middle of the Scouts church service for St Georges day, should be fun

Reply to: How do you prioritize gear purchases? Anyone have an organized system? Posted December 4, 2022

I really do not buy “prepping gear” as such, as to me its a life style thing rather than an insurance policy. This means most of my gear gets used on a regular bases. If I needed to bug out (and it really is the last option for me) then most of the gear I would grab is already used when we go camping. I store food because while rear, we still do get bad weather where I live. My medical grab bag is the one I use for work (I work for a number of private ambulance companies). So I would say 80% of my purcherses are planned, usually because I have taken something out my stores or broken something like a spade shank. The other 20% are impulse buys, usually second hand tools or equipment that I know I can repare and use.

Reply to: What was the catalyst that compelled you to begin prepping? Posted November 30, 2022

I never started, it was just the way we lived growing up on a border hill farm in the 60’s. In the early 80’s I figured there was little future for me following sheep around a hill all-day, so joined the Military. First time outside the UK and I was looking at the inner German Border. Luckily I had a Cpl who was training up for selection and a Colour Sgt who was crazy, so we spent more time in the field than in barracks. Both of these situations reinforced the idea if you want something it’s probably best to make it yourself (that way you can fix it when it breaks) and a small community looks after its own. These days I live in a small village (back in the borders), I help out on the local council resilience team as well as working for private ambulance companies, so I tend to get a call at stupied o clock in the morning from my neighbours.

Reply to: How would you prep with an EV? Posted November 2, 2022

Honestly, I think the mass use of EV in the UK is a none starter at the moment. The infrastructure is in place yet and thats before we consider the production of electricity. Saying that I do think there is a place for EV’s at the moment as small delivery vehicles around cities (the old milk float proves they work). The next logical step, presently, is Hydrogen powered vehicles. But even if we stop the production / importation of petrol & diesel powered vehicles in the next five years, those we do have should last through to the mid 2040s. While I would like to move away from fossil fuel, I can not see that happening very soon.

Reply to: Why won’t canned heat boil my water? Posted November 2, 2022

I favour a camping gas stove for emergency use, something like the pocket rocket. I do not feel comfortable using liquid in either the house or tent with the small kids about, but that’s purely my paranoia kicking in. As for the cold, I have camped down to 5c with Butane and so long as I kept the cylinder in the tent it burnt ok, below that I swap out to a butane / propane mix. But as a few people have mentioned, if you are cooking in an enclosed space I would recommend a Carbon monoxide monitor if you haven’t already got one